The not-very-eagerly-awaited first part to this story, centering on MWPP. To tell the truth, I'm really not as pleased with this as I was with the prologue. Be warned, this bit's all fluff, it wasn't very much fun to write, and I think it shows. Angst to come; for now, budding romance and cotton candy and abrasive teachers. Anyway, this story kinda has three bits: this flashback-type thing, giving you Anika's past, then an interlude, then we get back to the time when the prologue takes place (i.e. Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts.) So whichever of those time periods interests you most...just wait around. I'll get to it eventually. *g* Thanks a ton for bearing with me--sorry it's so long! And special thanks to everyone who reviewed--you guys really made me day.

No Lily or Snape in this part. They're coming, though. Slowly but surely.

Everyone belongs to J.K. Rowling except the entire Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Anika, and Erin. "Li'l Red Riding Hood" belongs to whoever sang it (I forget who that was...*sigh*) and the title "Bryter Layter" belongs to Nick Drake, as do the lyrics to "Northern Sky" (the song James doesn't recognize). You should all go pick up that CD right now, by the way. (and yes, it came out in 1970, so my continuity should be correct...)

-rave

Bryter Layter: Part I

Acquaintance

"Miss Donelan, would it be so difficult for you to pay attention?" Professor Rookwood's acerbic voice cracked across the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom like a whip. "I understand how distracting the thought of Quidditch team rosters must be, but please try to maintain at least a vague air of alertness."

Anika Donelan snapped to attention. "Sorry, sir."

"I should hope so," said Rookwood acidly, watching her with an air of extreme dislike. "I have never understood the appeal of that mindless sport in the first place. A simple excuse for the brainless masses to get some kind of superficial glory...nothing required but brute strength and the earnest desire to get one's limbs broken." He waved his wand, and words began to scroll across the board behind him in bright white light. "The main weakness of the Chimaera lies..."

"I bet," muttered Erin Piper, "that he could never play Quidditch."

"Him?" Anika muttered back, snickering quietly. "I bet he couldn't even take a lap around the pitch without falling off the broomstick when he was a kid."

"I bet he couldn't even mount the broomstick," Erin whispered, shaking with suppressed giggles as she watched Rookwood's tall, thin back, almost broomstick-like itself. "Not that I should be talking. I can hardly mount a broomstick myself."

"Yes, but you're not old, sour and bitter," Anika reminded her softly, scribbling down a few short notes. "So it's all forgiven. Oh god, is this class ever going to end?"

"...Miss Donelan! The Chimaera's most famous attack was on...?"

Anika jumped. "Er, sorry, Professor...come again?"

"We have only been reviewing this incident for the entire class, Miss Donelan," Rookwood said, dripping sarcasm. "Where did the most famous Chimaera attack occur?"

"Oh," said Anika, relieved. "Lycia."

Rookwood looked vaguely disappointed, but stopped fixing her with those gimlet eyes and was about to say something else when the sound of the bell echoed through the room. The students gave a universal sigh of relief and stuffed their books into their bags at record speed, heading for the door--

"Not so fast," came Rookwood's level, nasty voice. "No amount of athletic hysteria cancels out your homework. I expect you to read pages 10 through 46 of your book, and answer the questions at the end of the chapters." He snapped his book shut. "Dismissed!"

Anika shot out of the classroom and down the corridor. Her classmates were running almost as fast as she was, burning with curiosity--the Quidditch house teams were a high honor, and this year there had been very few openings. Anika's house, Ravenclaw, had only two--one Beater and the Seeker--and a simply sickening amount of people had tried out. Still, Anika hoped...maybe...

An enormous crowd--Slytherins, mostly--had already gathered at the entrance to the Great Hall and were peering at four huge sheets of parchment that were tacked to the wall, chattering excitedly. She forced her way through the crush of people, finally making it to the front.

QUIDDITCH HOUSE TEAM LINEUPS '76

Anika's eyes jumped to the parchment marked "RAVENCLAW", then to the positions she knew were vacant.

Seeker: Emily Watson (third year)

Emily was a nice girl; she'd do well. Still, Anika felt her heart sink--A third-year got on, and not me? She'd hoped...really thought...there was still a chance. Down her eyes jumped again, to:

Beaters: Perry Quick (seventh year)

Will McKinnon (seventh year)

Anika felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Of course, she'd made all the necessary self-deprecating comments, had said her share of "There's no chance I'll make it," but deep down she'd been so certain...she'd thought she'd done a good job...

She pushed her way back out of the excitedly babbling crowd, fighting back tears and hating herself for being so self-centered. You selfish, egocentric brat! They were better than you were, so just bugger off being so "ultra-sensitive"...

"Congratulations, Ani!" Gretchen Stoop, a sixth-year Slytherin, had grabbed her arm excitedly. "I saw you up there--you must have done great, to make Will McKinnon switch positions for you..."

"What?" asked Anika, completely lost.

"You--did--good," said Gretchen, slowly and carefully. "Con-grat-u-la-tions."

"I didn't get on," Anika said, completely confused.

"You idiot, didn't you even read the whole sign? They switched the team positions all around so you could play..."

Heart leaping in her chest, Anika craned her neck up again to the Ravenclaw lineup, this time reading the whole thing:

RAVENCLAW LINEUP

Captain: Will McKinnon (seventh year)

Chasers: Andrew Chang (sixth year)

Vanessa Pierce (fifth year)

Delia Quick (sixth year)

Beaters: Perry Quick (seventh year)

Will McKinnon (seventh year)

Seeker: Emily Watson (third year)

Keeper: Anika Donelan (sixth year)

Anika nearly fell over. From behind, Erin enveloped her in a tight hug, yelling "Go Ani! Go Ani!" Will McKinnon, just finished pasting the list of practice dates onto the wall, flashed her a dazzling smile as he hopped down from his stool and said "Congratulations, Donelan," and then she was abruptly mobbed by a group of cheering Ravenclaws, pounding her on the back and yelling happily at her.

*

"...So I finally made it, Hagrid," Anika finished, still flushed and glowing with excitement and triumph. "I've been training up all summer and I get to play Keeper, finally I get to be on the team..."

"Well done, Ani." Hagrid grinned proudly at her, taking another enormous swig from his equally oversized teacup. "I knew yeh'd get in..."

"Eventually." Anika sighed, putting her own cup down on the table. "Took me long enough. I don't know anyone else who tried out four years in a row and didn't get in until the last one."

"Tha's no' the point! Yeh got in, didn't yeh?" Hagrid clapped her enthusiastically on the back, making her emit a sort of "Whoof!" and fall forward into her teacup. "Yeh worked for it and worked for it, an' yeh did it!" He stared at her from under his thick brown eyebrows; from anyone else, it would have been glowering. "I'm proud of yeh, Ani. Really am. Yeh did well...did me proud, you did. I knew yeh'd do well at Hogwarts, didn't I? Said as much the firs' day yeh got yer letter."

Anika went very red and muttered something.

"Yeh see? It mighta taken yeh six years, but yeh're starting to see...it doesn' matter how yeh're born, it's what yeh do...and yeh've done yer best..."

There was a knock on the door. This was lucky; Anika was starting to fear that her face would catch on fire if Hagrid didn't stop shamelessly singing her praises.

Hagrid got up, a frown of confusion crossing his enormous brow. "Who could tha' be?"

Fang, the boarhound, who was snoozing comfortably on the hearthrug, gave a little snort and waved his paws aimlessly in the air.

Hagrid pulled the door open, Anika trying to see what was outside it, but his broad shoulders blocked her view. Hagrid's gruff voice--"James! Good ter see yeh, James--Sirius, how are yeh? I haven' seen yeh yet this year--come on inside--I'll get yeh some tea..."

He moved aside, and Anika finally got a good view of the people standing at the door. One was a tall, wiry boy, with restless, laughing black eyes and jagged strips of ebony hair that went just past his shoulder...she knew him, vaguely. Sirius Black. (You couldn't really avoid knowing him--every other day he was setting off Dungbombs in the corridors, or making the walls transparent in the prefects' bathroom. Not to mention she had Advanced Arithmancy with him, James Potter, and another Gryffindor sixth-year...they'd only had one class, but they'd never spoken.) He was a sixth-year, Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, best friends with...

That boy, next to him...disheveled, rumpled black hair and soft brown eyes, like a deer's...that was James Potter. Seeker and Captain on the Gryffindor House team, he was supposed to be the best player that Hogwarts had. He had the right look for a Seeker--lightly built, thin, with black glasses and a thoughtful sort of smile. Not, Anika told herself firmly, that smiles have anything to do with Quidditch talent. I'd appreciate it, Ani, if you'd stay on the subject here.

James spotted her across the room, looking vaguely surprised that anyone else would come to visit Hagrid, but had a friendly enough expression in his eyes as he crossed the hut to the table, Sirius close at his heels.

"Anika, right? Advanced Arithmancy?"

She nodded, smiling into her tea. "And you're James...and Sirius."

Sirius sat down hard, exhaling. "Yep, that's me, Jamesandsirius. We're like one entity, we are."

Anika laughed.

James seated himself next to his friend, folding his arms across the table. "You're the new Ravenclaw keeper, aren't you? Will McKinnon was just raving about you at the captain's meeting."

Raving, was he? thought Anika drily. "You know how to give a compliment, don't you?"

James grinned at her.

"Careful, Prongs, you're dripping charm on me," said Sirius in a loud stage whisper. "Got a tissue, Anika?"

Anika couldn't believe it...these were the two most popular boys in school, and she was just a not-very-pretty new Ravenclaw Quidditch recruit, and they were actually talking to her...they actually knew her name..."Smells a bit off, your charm does, James...P'raps it's because you've got a girlfriend."

Sirius guffawed. "You'd better just throw it in, Prongs...she's got your number."

"Imagine she'd rather have yours. You're the single one, aren't you?"

"Today, anyway..."

"And yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and so on for a year or more..."

"Only so far as you know..."

"If you had as many girlfriends as you like to pretend you do, there'd be little Sirius Blacks running about all over the country by now, and that would be a tragedy--"

"Yeh all know each other, then?" boomed Hagrid amiably, setting down two more cups of tea. "Lovely..."

"So how're you doing, Hagrid?" asked Sirius curiously, having just poured half his tea down the neck of a spluttering James.

"Oh--well, can't complain--"

"Ah," said James innocently, surreptitiously punching Sirius in the ribs. "Well, Hagrid, we came down here to--ack!"

Sirius elbowed him in the stomach, finishing for him, "--to find out if you'd seen Remus yet. He wasn't at the feast, he hasn't come to his classes, and it isn't..er...you know...owch! You stupid git!" This last referred to James, who had smacked him on the head with a saucer and was rapidly turning their conversation into a full-fledged brawl. Sirius responded with a will, and Anika watched with interest until Hagrid said firmly, "Enough o' that, you two," and grabbed them both by the collars of their robes, holding them apart like squalling kittens.

Anika blinked. "Is that what boys who are best friends do, then?"

Sirius stuck his tongue out at James across Hagrid's barrel-like chest. "He started it."

"Ah," said Anika wisely. Hagrid set them down on the floor and they sat back down in their places, grinning insanely at each other. "Men," she muttered, only half to herself.

Sirius seemed a little uncomfortable, now that the small-talk section was over; he seemed eager to resume the conversation he and James had been having with Hagrid, and wasn't sure how to do it with Anika around. Too many secrets involved. He hadn't said anything, but she could read it in the way he held his head, even the way he moved his hands. She was good at reading people that way. "Well, I'd best get up to the castle, I suppose." She put down her cup, smiling at Hagrid. "Thanks for the pep talk...see you around..."

"Nice to meet you," Sirius called after her.

"See you!" yelled James.

She waved, and set out down the path, wondering what kind of secrets those two might have.

*

Anika sighed, the soft sound echoing through the Arithmancy classroom, and scribbled down a few more Refractus equations. As usual, she was sitting by herself; most of the Advanced Arithmancy students were seventh-years, and she felt self-conscious about trying to sit with them. Of course it got lonely, but the mortifying thought of rejection kept her at her solitary desk.

James, Sirius, and that other Gryffindor boy were sitting at the table next to her, whispering among themselves. Looking at them gave her a sort of pang--she wished she could have friends like that, friends that she could share everything with, friends she'd have deep, terrible secrets with. She had Erin, of course, and several others, but no one she was such close friends with...not like them...she'd never been like them. She sighed again, more heavily, and turned back to her paper.

There was a tap on her shoulder. She looked up, surprised.

Sirius Black stood over her, a faint half-smile on his handsome face. "You all right, by yourself?"

"Fine," she said firmly, giving him a friendly smile.

"You sure? There are only three of us, so it's hard to work in pairs...you wouldn't care to move over to our table, would you?"

Her breath caught in her throat. "Oh--well--sure--"

"Great." He grabbed her things before she could even reach for them, depositing them easily on the Gryffindor table. Anika climbed to her feet and moved seats; Professor Theta, deeply engrossed in a complicated diagram, didn't even notice.

Taking her seat, Anika reached again for her quill--then gave a little gasp of horror as it emitted a squeak and turned into an enormous stuffed black dog.

Sirius burst into laughter. She fixed him with a glare, hissing, "Did you do that?!"

"A present," said Sirius helpfully.

"How'd you do that?" She was less angry than she was amazed and charmed. He's flirting with me...Sirius Black, Sirius Black, is flirting with me....

Sirius waved a hand airily. "Simple transfiguration charm...slipped it on when I picked up your things..."

"In other words, Remus helped him," said James, grinning. The boy next to him blushed a little. "Oh--sorry--this is Remus Lupin, Anika. She's Anika Donelan, Remus, she's the new Ravenclaw Keeper."

"Is that how you introduce everyone? In terms of Quidditch?" Anika wondered aloud. "'This is John Smith, he's the Hufflepuff Seeker--Oh, this is Jane Doe, she's one of the hundreds who didn't make the Quidditch team'?"

Remus laughed. He was pale, with dark circles under his eyes, thin and handsome in a bony sort of way. He looked vaguely unwell. Anika felt a bizarre urge to put a cold compress on his head and force-feed him castor oil, but restrained herself.

"Er, Sirius," she said quickly, remembering, "about this dog...it's lovely, it really is, but I still need a quill..."

James snickered, but kept it under control.

"Oh, of course," said Sirius lightly, and--holding her eyes with his--made an outrageous flourish and apparently pulled one out of thin air.

James nearly collapsed with laughter. "Could you be any more obvious, Padfoot?"

"Obvious about what?" asked Sirius innocently, still not dropping the gaze.

"The subtle art of flirtation," said Anika in a scholarly sort of way, "is supposed to be just that. Subtle. I believe that may be what your friend is so amused by." (James let out a sound that sounded like "Mmmmfp!" and vanished beneath the table, shaking.) She took the quill, rewarding him with a slight smile. "By the way, I took Muggle slight-of-hand courses for six years, so I know that was up your sleeve the whole time..."

"It wasn't!" Sirius protested.

Anika grinned, made a similar flourish, and produced something else--a note, with the words "I can do that too."

Sirius took it, gaping.

"I cheated a bit on that one, though....a Scriptorus charm to write the note." She shrugged. "But the trick itself isn't so hard..."

James tapped his friend on the arm. "Look, that was a cute little exchange and all, but shouldn't we be concentrating on angles?"

"Oh--right--" Sirius grabbed his paper, dumping the stuffed dog unceremoniously on the floor.

"Careful with that!" said Anika protectively. "I'm getting rather fond of it."

*

"Watch this."

The Gryffindor common room was filled with the friendly buzz and chatter of students returning from dinner. Sirius had snagged a couch for himself, James, Remus, and the little Peter Pettigrew, and had produced something that looked vaguely like a pair of omniculars.

James eyed him suspiciously. "I'm almost afraid to touch it."

"No, no, I'm really, really proud of this. I've been working on it for ages. Remember that stuffed dog I gave to Anika in Arithmancy?"

"Anika?" asked Peter, a cloud crossing his round face. He didn't have the brains for advanced Arithmancy, sad as it was to admit; he went to pieces even in regular classes. But he was good-hearted, and James had taken him under his wing since their first day at Hogwarts.

"A girl in our class," James clarified. "I think Sirius fancies her. He gave her a stuffed animal."

Remus, surprisingly, was the one who went red.

Sirius lifted an eyebrow. "I'm fairly sure you've got the wrong man." But he abandoned the subject before James could torment Remus further. "Anyway, remember that dog?"

James and Remus nodded.

"Well, when I made it, I--well, just look through these."

He handed the omniculars to James, who squinted curiously through them. It was like looking at a room through glasses of the wrong prescription--everything was a fuzzy blob. A tinny whistling buzzed in his ears. "Er, Sirius, whatever it is, it's out of focus."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Just twiddle the little knob on the side."

James did so; there was a piercing shriek, and then it became clear what he was looking at. A flash of shoulder-length ebony hair, the sparkle of laughing grey eyes. "You enchanted the dog so you could spy on Anika?"

"Well, partly...but on the other hand, you know, she rooms with Erin Piper..."

"You're a disgrace, Padfoot, an absolute disgrace." Anika was singing now; she had a lovely, rich, velvety alto. "She's cleaning her room. Singing. Got a nice voice. She cleans her goddamn dorm, Sirius! Are you sure she's from Earth?"

"What's she singing?"

James listened, trying to make out the words.

I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky

"Some Muggle song--I don't recognize it. Pretty."

"What? What? Let me see!"

"Gerroff, Peter!" James fiddled a bit with the dial, and the view zoomed back, revealing the four other beds of the Ravenclaw sixth-year girls' dorm. "This is brilliant, Pads! How'd you do it?"

Sirius chuckled. "Oh, I'm not telling you. Lily'd never forgive me if I gave you the means to watch her undress, you sick voyeur. You'll figure it out eventually anyway."

"Let me see it!"

"G'wan, Prongs, let Peter see it for a second."

Rather reluctantly, James handed the omniculars to the smaller boy, who promptly plastered them to his eyes. After a moment, his face fell a bit. "She's not that pretty."

"No, she's not pretty exactly," admitted Sirius, "but she kind of grabs your eye, doesn't she? Anyway...Erin Piper...I don't think there's any doubt whether or not she's pretty. Hey, Moony, you've been waiting awfully patiently..." One look at his friend's face was enough to convince Sirius of what he already suspected. "Ooooh, Moony! You do fancy her!"

"I don't," mumbled Remus, going even redder.

James stared at him. "Moony--our Moony--actually having a crush on someone? I didn't think it would ever happen!"

"I don't," said Remus again, somewhat more forcefully.

James, however, was not listening; he had burst into song. In an abominable American accent: "Hey there, little Red Riding Hood--"

"Shut up," muttered Remus, hiding his flaming face behind his hands.

Sirius, catching on, had joined in. "Yew sure are lookin' good--"

"Stop it!"

Even Peter quickly caught on. "Yore everythin' that a big bad wolf could want--"

"That isn't funny!"

All three of them yowled together: "Awooooooooooooo!" and dissolved into hysterics.

Remus glared ineffectually at them, ears burning.



"But now you're here
Brighten my--"

Anika broke off her song and glanced at the stuffed dog on her bunk, somewhat surprised. She could have sworn she'd heard it howl.

Discomfited, she stuffed it behind her bed, and didn't even hear the sounds of disappointment that emitted from it a few moments later.